The growing legend of Jimmy Garoppolo has turned a lost 49ers season into one that gave fans a magical feeling of hope for the future. Now, with his contract set to expire in two months, I continue to ask the same question I did at the time of the trade: why didn’t the 49ers negotiate a contract extension with Garoppolo when trading for him?

Trade/contract companions

The Oct. 30 trade of Garappolo from New England to San Francisco was business as usual for the Patriots. They have consistently dealt notable players in the last year of contracts, from Chandler Jones and Jamie Collins in 2016 to Richard Seymour in 2009 to Deion Branch in 2006.

On the other side of the deal, the 49ers gave up a high second-round draft pick—a player the Patriots will have under contract control for four years at a fixed and reasonable rate—for a player (Garoppolo) with eight games left on his existing contract.